Wear of English Monumental Brasses caused by Brass Rubbing

Abstract

THERE are about 8,000 monumental brasses in the churches of Britain, representing only a small proportion of the total number of brasses set in place between about 1250 and 1650 (ref. 1). The preparation of rubbings of many of these brasses is extensively practised at present, particularly by visitors to England. Although brass rubbing (in the Netherlands) is documented as far back as 1656, the use of a wax crayon on paper has been popular in Britain only since the early nineteenth century². Thus, when viewed in historical perspective, the increasingly popular brass rubbing activity must be considered as a comparatively new feature in the history of the monumental brasses. Our study was undertaken to determine whether repeated brass rubbing over periods of the order of a century will result in significant brass wear caused by the friction of the back of brass rubbing paper against the brass.